I’m getting ready for CIMdata industry and market forum just in few weeks in Ann Arbor, MI. If you want to learn more about CIMdata forum, check this out here. The name of the forum this year is 2020 PLM Market & Industry Forum is “Products, Smartly Connected”. The topic is fascinating and gives a lot of ideas to think about. There are so many aspects of connections – siloed systems, connected companies, multiple disconnected Bill of Materials, IoT and connected machines. All these and other topics on the agenda of the forum you can see here.
My favorite agenda quotes are about synchronization of siloed development.
The practice at successful engineering/product companies uses concurrent engineering performed by teams of engineers and technicians synchronizing their efforts at key milestones to assess progress and readiness for mass production. The original motivations for synchronization are being challenged by new technologies and processes like additive manufacturing and agile development. New tools and analytics can help across the product lifecycle. This presentation will focus on how siloed development must evolve to meet today’s product lifecycle challenges.
and about xBOM management across the lifecycle.
Electronic component obsolescence is a critical issue with smart connected products, especially those with long lifespans. Digital twins are the best approach to effectively address this business problem. This presentation will describe the issues faced by industrial companies and how a properly implemented digital twin that connects data across different BOMs can reduce the impact of component obsolescence.
A traditional topic on the agenda is market analysis. Presented by CIMdata’s Vice President, Stan Przybylinski, this analysis is always a comprehensive insight into the direction and current state of PLM industry. The final results are incorporated into CIMdata Market Analysis Report (MAR).
The topic of my special interest this year is PLM adoption. For many years, PLM was pretty much a system adopted by large enterprise companies. Recent development shows PLM vendors are looking into small and medium-sized manufacturing companies segment as a potential to grow.
A few years ago, I published my article – How many companies are using PLM systems. I wanted to revise the article and check what happens in 2020. How many customers each PLM vendor has today is an interesting question. The answers to this question are usually very hard to find.
Earlier this year, I was attending Dassault Systemes 3DEXPERIENCE conference. I captured the following slide during the ENOVIA presentation showing that ENOVIA has 7800 customers. The interesting number is 85% are mid-market and 21% are cloud.
I’ve been trying to find a piece of information about other PLM systems adoption and the split between enterprise and mid-size companies but wasn’t able to get a lot of results online. My attention was caught by Enlyft. According to its website, the company (Enlyft) was born from one serial entrepreneur’s frustration with traditional company profile databases.
Here is an interesting data set about companies using PLM software.
with a detailed list outlining the number of customers and % of total PLM market:
Another source of information iDataLabs and according to Robotics and Automation publication here is the number of companies using PLM (data for 2017).
What is my conclusion?
PLM market seems to be growing and I’m looking to capture more information about it during the upcoming CIMdata forum in Ann Arbor, MI. Keep following my blog for data and insights. I will be live blogging from CIMdata forum and sharing information during the forum and after. If you have questions, share them in comments, I’d be happy to get answers for you. What are the most painful problems and challenges the PLM industry will have in the 2020s? What system architecture and business models will allow to PLM industry to grow in the next decade. These and other questions are in my mind for the forum. But these are just my thoughts… I hope to come with answers later.
Best, Oleg
Disclaimer: I’m co-founder and CEO of OpenBOM developing cloud-based bill of materials and inventory management tool for manufacturing companies, hardware startups, and supply chain. My opinion can be unintentionally biased.
